Last week, I wrote about how in life…shift happens. Life events, whether good or bad, can change your trajectory in a second. They can significantly alter your moods, heighten your anxiety, or even give you what you always wanted. Such shifts force you to change your perspective on the world around you.
But what if you could choose how the shift affects you instead of letting the shift choose its own impact on you? Or, what if you could learn to be more proactive in your life and relationships rather than being reactive (or even numb and inactive)?
It starts with—and if you’ve been reading my blog for long, you know where this is going—getting rid of the stories you tell yourself. In my book, I wrote, “By stepping off of your internal director’s chair and learning how to discard your favorite scripts, you will enjoy a two-fold promise:
1. Your relationships will be better, healthier, deeper, and more honest.
2. Your anxiety will decrease.”
In other words, if you can learn how to be present in the real world and not live so much within your head, conversing with the made-up caricatures of your mind who represent the real people in your life, you may find yourself more able to deal with the inevitable shifts in your reality.
When a significant life event occurs, you’ll be able to deal with it more capably when you can notice and then dismiss the stories you’re telling yourself about that life event and the people involved in it.
Your relationships can grow instead of wither, and your anxiety can lessen instead of increase. These are the two promises lurking behind every opportunity to choose how the shifts in your life affect you instead of allowing the shifts to dictate your choices to you.
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